In response to media inquiry and FOIA demands, the government of Australia formally admitted today to the role of High Commissioner Alexander Downer and his engagements with George Papadopoulos in 2016.  The timing coincides with the Mueller Report (released today), which states it was information about this engagement from Alexander Downer that opened the FBI counterintelligence investigation in July 2016.
The Australian government cited the conclusion of the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation as the background for their willingness to comply with an 15-month-old FOIA request from Buzzfeed News.

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President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani appears on Fox News to discuss the recently released Robert Mueller report.  According to Giuliani he and his team had the opportunity to read the report in a DOJ SCIF on Tue and Wed.

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The Robert Mueller report on the 2016 election and Russian interference is available for download HERE (DOJ Site).  Additionally, it is available on pdf HERE. [Embed Below]
[scribd id=406725805 key=key-Z643KssNQQELZFdxgeQc mode=scroll]
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The scale of internet bandwidth being used to view this 448-page report is incredible.  Allow time for visibility or any download/upload.  Feel free to drop your comments on review below.  CTH will have full analysis after a thorough review.

President Donald Trump is expected to deliver his reaction to the findings of Special Council Robert Mueller’s investigations during a a Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride event.  Anticipated start time 10:30am EST:
UPDATE: Video and Transcript Added:

[Transcript] East Room – 11:07 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Please.
I am thrilled to host the Wounded Warrior Project. It’s been a long relationship I’ve had. And the Soldier Ride is something very, very special. Few people could do it, including me. (Laughter.) I hate to admit it. I hate to admit that, General, but including me. (Laughter.)
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A much anticipated press conference today with Attorney General Bill Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as they release the report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. When the actual report is released we can FIND IT HERE.
UPDATE: Video and Transcript Added

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[Transcript of prepared remarks] Good Morning. Thank you all for being here today.
On March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation of matters related to Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and submitted his confidential report to me pursuant to Department of Justice regulations.
As I said during my Senate confirmation hearing and since, I am committed to ensuring the greatest possible degree of transparency concerning the Special Counsel’s investigation, consistent with the law.
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At the end of the liturgy on Holy Thursday evening, in every Catholic Church around the world, the Blessed Sacrament is removed to the altar of repose, the altar is stripped, the church is bare, empty. Tomb-like. It is a striking and heartbreaking tradition, and I make sure to attend each year, to allow my heart to break, my tears to fall, my spirit to be clouded in gloom and dread, preparing for Good Friday, and Christ’s passion.
My purpose in sharing this video is to encourage those of you who let Easter sneak up on you, without much thought beforehand, to find your own ways to open your heart and experience the pain of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Perhaps dedicate an hour to prayer and scripture. Go to a church and wait with Jesus during the hours of 12 to 3. Give alms. Go to a Good Friday service. Fast. Cut off the phones, televisions, computers.
Observing these two solemn days of the Christian calendar will make your Easter more meaningful, and enrich your faith.

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

This will not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed closely; however, according to the FBI’s primary narrative engineer, Devlin Barrett at the Washington Post, the Mueller team has invested most heavily in “obstruction, obstruction, obstruction”….
For two years 19 lawyers were piecing the script together; while 40 FBI agents used 2,800 subpoenas, 230 orders for communication records, national security letters, FISA authorization, wiretaps, 50 pen register authorizations, and over 500 Title III search warrants to scour the background of every private communication, phone call, text message and email of everyone in the Trump orbit.  Eventually interviewing over 500 witnesses for words to paste into the text of the Mueller/Weissmann obstruction report.

As Barrett outlines on behalf of his benefactors, the team has painted a detailed narrative using every word, tweet, media interview, comment, and private/confidential White House utterance by President Trump -about his unhappiness with the Mueller probe- as clear and convincing evidence of President Trump’s intent to obstruct the investigation.
It’s all about the “obstruction”…. And that is Pelosi’s launch platform.

(WaPo Via Devlin Barrett)  The Justice Department plans to release a lightly redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s 400-page report Thursday, offering a granular look at the ways in which President Trump was suspected of having obstructed justice, people familiar with the matter said.

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Democrat politicians and their water-carrying media allies who helped spur the Mueller investigation for two years are furious about Attorney General Bill Barr and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein holding a press conference tomorrow (9:30am) shortly before releasing the Mueller report (11:00am).
The level of Democrat pearl-clutching over process is only exceeded by the transparency of their political demands to create a narrative.  It really is silly…

(Nadler)

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